Contest Entry for Minty_The_Cat 's short story contest.
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    Yells, screams, and flashes of intense light.

    That is why I was waking up in the dead of the night so often like this.

    I rolled out bed, startled, and accidentally landed on the bits of metal I had been trying to turn into a working mini-flying machine. It was still a work in progress and hurt when my palms dug into the cold sterile titanium. I hissed and shook it off, reaching for my bedside table for my glasses, blinking when the world sprang into focus.

    The window in my room was silhouetted with flickering blue lights. An electric color, if you will. My thirteen year-old feet pushed up to a tip toe to see the outside. I glanced wildly around, hoping to catch a glance of the Rage. I heard so many stories, rumors, tall tales of terrible trepidities.

There it was! Snaking tendrils of blue light, only appearing for a second before disappearing. Then repeating again. A slight hum in the air, an odd feeling in the jaw.

    "Dan!" The door to my room flew open and my angry sister stormed in.

"Get away from the window! Don't you remember what mom and dad told you?" She accused, pulling me back away from the window sill.

    "I can't sleep!" I complained.

    "Nobody can, not unless this city is purged of this sickness." She bit her lip and sat down on the bed next to me. Then reached up and adjusted my lopsided glasses.

"Hang in there kiddo, pretty soon the council will find a way to fix this." She added in a kinder tone.

    "Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked, trying to get another peek at the window.

    She sighed. "They're out there fighting for you. We just need to hang tough."

*

*

*

    Three days later, I was standing at the corner of a building that was charred and blackened. Bits of nervous electricity ran over my finger as I recalled the noises. I was supposed to be attending school, but I had been feeling sick and the teacher let me take the rest of the class off. My stomach still felt queasy, but I was perfectly healthy.

    People had died three days ago. And a week before that. And last month. I had already been forced to attend the funeral of my second cousin, and older girl I had never met. She had made herself go mad with the Rage, assumed dead after bravely running off into into the Badlands to protect the people of Arah. I had never been to the Badlands. There were no pictures and foolhardy adventurures never came back.

    "Dan." A female voice called out, it was a friend of mine. Dark hair, pretty sky blue eyes. Her name was Joan Larkin but she insisted everyone call her Queen Lightning, which hadn't caught on quite yet.

    She was waiting at the street corner for me. Probably to bring me back inside, or to check on me. I glanced up at her.

    "Hey there Sparkplug, how you doing?" Joan asked softly, holding out a sandwich. I had missed lunch, but I wasn't hungry.

    "You always call me that." I smiled at her, walking back to the large red brick building we were learn lessons we barely used in the real world.

    "You never object, but seriously, Mr. Powers filled me in, are you feeling okay?"

    I shrugged. "I feel fine." A vivid image of my trousers suddenly catching flame filled my mind.

    She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were sick?"

    I wanted to answer but the words never came to my lips. I said nothing. My mouth felt dry like the deserts of the FireTribe.

    "Maybe you should take the day off, you now, it's probably just a bug."

    "I said I'm fine." I snapped, clenching my fists suddenly and feeling quite dizzy.

    Joan, who had been watching me carefully, stared at me with wide eyes. I don't know where the sudden anger came from and it scared me.

    "Okay." She answered quietly.

    "Sorry." I mumbled.

    "Just take the day off okay?" The she turned on slowly and started off towards the school. Leaving me wiping the sweat from my brow.

    I took her advice, but my parents weren't happy when I stepped through the door.

"Hey sweetie," my mother started off. "The school called, they said you were feeling sick."

She laid her hand on my forehead, it was ice cold to me. I wanted push it off. Her eyebrows flew up in surprise, and she glanced worriedly back at my Dad.

"Come on Dan, why don't you lie down on the couch for a bit?" He suggested.

I clench my teeth in disgust. They had that look on their faces that meant they wanted to talk without me in the room.

"What? Joan said it was just a bug." I called, feeling left out.

Mom looked almost frightened. Like a bird before it's pounced on by the cat. She glanced again at Dad, who was staring at me with his brow furrowed down in a cold, serious manner. There was no warmth in his face.

    "Daniel."

    I froze, no one ever called by my full name unless I was in trouble.

    "Take it easy, your mother is just worried about you." He tried to explain.

    I clenched my fists again, trying to keep them from shaking. Then I walked from the room, trying to keep the raging emotion from showing.

    What's happening to me?

    Instead of crashing on the couch I made a b-line for the bathroom and started splashing water on my face. I watched as the liquid dropped off my nose and into the sink. My skin felt hot and uncomfortable and I was angry at everyone. Why did everyone think there was something wrong with me? I was fine. I felt completely normal. Except for the strange blue glimmer in the water.

I glanced up at the mirror and chocked on my breath.

My eyes had been blue.

I know my eyes, I was born with dark eyes and colors don't just change like that.

There was really only one explanation.

I leaned against the sink and breathed slowly, trying to calm down the storm inside me. I could do this, I could control it. I couldn't hurt anyone. I wouldn't.

There was a knock at the door. "Dan?"

I paced back and forth. "Yeah?"

"Can you come out please? Your Dad and I need to talk to you."

I opened the door and met my Mom's smiling face. But I could tell it was fake.

"I have the Rage, don't I?" I asked straight forward once they had sat me down in the living room sitting opposites of myself.

Mom made a small chocking sound. Dad just kept on stareing.

"It's not that big of a deal son."

I couldn't stop myself. I slammed my fist down on the table.

"Yes it is!" I cried, feeling my eyes go watery. "I could kill someone!"

"Stop, breathe." He commanded.

Sparks crackled through my light blue hair. By the stars I was so angry! I couldn't deny it. They were treating me like I needed to be locked up somewhere.

I breathed heavily, trying to keep my fists from shaking again.

Then my phone rang.

Agitated, I slipped it from my pocket. The caller tag read Queen Lightning.

"Excuse me for a second." I snapped, getting up and excluding myself to the hallway in front of the door.

"Hey Sparkplug, what's up?"

"Listen Joan, now's a really bad time. I'm in a really bad situation and would appreciate it if you stopped worrying about me."

It was rude. I know, but I was hoping if she thought I hated her she would stay away. So I wouldn't hurt her.

"That's it I'm coming to see you-"

"NO!" I shouted.

A tiny bolt of lightning flew from my fingers and shattered a small vase.

"Dan?" My Mom called from the other room.

I pulled my jacket from the hook and shrugged it on. "I'm going for a walk!"

"Come back here, we need to talk about this!"

"I need fresh air."

"Daniel Hiero! Come back here right now!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed, lightning flooded from my body and scarred the walls. It left black, crispy marks that sizzled.

I yanked open the door, trying desperately to escape.

And then I crashed into the sweet face of Joan.

"Dan? You're smoking, I knew something was wrong with you."

My eyes flashed threateningly.

"There is nothing wrong with me!" I snarled.

And that's the last thing I knew before the world was swallowed in the blinding white and blue colors of pure electricity.

*

*

*

When I woke up, the cloudy sky was thick with ash.

I sucked in a huge breath, only to discover my arms were tied to my body with a rope made out of rubber.

The concrete around me was blackened and sooty.

But what scared me the most was the flashing lights. the firemen, police, an ambulance.

They were loading a stretcher with a burnt and blackened body on it. It's features were barely recognizable yet it was surprisingly familiar, and I felt cold in the pit of my stomach. Like an Icetribe warrior had stabbed me with one of their ice blades.

"Joan..." I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"Joan!" I yelled desperately, watching the ambulance drive off.

My parents and sister were standing a ways off. They were staring at me with wide eyes, fearful.

    They were scared of me.

I strained against my bonds. Grunting loudly when I tried to stretch the thick rubber. A few bystanders stepped back when I moved.

They were all scared of me.

I managed to pry off the rope. It wasn't very well thought through. I stood, brushing off the ash and trying to ignore the overwhelming scent of burnt skin.

"Leave and we won't hurt you." My father ordered, glaring coldly at me.

"What? I never meant to hurt anyone, I'm your son!" I pleaded.

"You are no son of mine, leave this place. We'll give you a minute head start."

For a moment all I could was stare at them. Tears were streaking through the black dust on my face. My heart broke while the world crashed down around me.

Then I ran.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Whoops, I think I just slipped on someone's tears.

heheh, how dramatic. But if you lock me in a room with my keyboard and this Elements of Arah quote:

"And it all started when I almost murdered a kid at school."

You get this. Note it says almost. Joan may still be alive, *cough* *cough*